Christians throughout the world recite the Lord’s Prayer in their personal devotions and in liturgical settings. Its universality and authority stem from its origin in the very words of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Thus, Cyprian of Carthage (210–258) could write: ‘For what can be...
The New Testament gospel, or ‘good news’, is especially the announcement of Jesus’ saving death and resurrection. The New Testament explains that it is ‘according to the scriptures.’ This means that this good news must be understood in light of the backstory of God’s saving acts in history.
The temple of Jerusalem was a monumental structure of the Middle East from the tenth century BCE until the year 70 CE. It passed through phases of renovation, demise, and reconstruction. In scripture, and in the faiths of Judaism and Christianity, the Jerusalem temple is more than merely a ...
Purgatory is a place, state, or stage in the Christian afterlife where, after death, the soul is purged of minor, unexpiated sin so that it can be fit for heaven. ‘Purgatory’ derives from the Latin purgare (to purge) and hence as the noun purgatorium it is a place of purgation and purific...
The word ‘millenarianism’ is used narrowly to describe the idea, expressed in Rev 20:1–10, of a thousand-year kingdom of the saints before the last judgment, and broadly to describe general expectations of imminent radical betterment on Earth that this idea has sparked throughout Christia...